Green Power Provider Greenpeace Energy wants to take over German Lignite Mining Area - and Close It Down

It is an ambitious plan presented by German green power utility Greenpeace Energy: In 2020, the company initially plans to take over and shut down the controversial Hambach opencast mine and the six oldest and least efficient power plant units, followed by the Inden opencast mine and six other power plant units in 2022. Garzweiler and the last three units will be taken over and shut down in 2025.

According to their own calculations, around 384 million euros will be needed to finance this mammoth task. The sum is compiled by the profits that could still be generated from the power plants on the electricity market until they become unprofitable due to rising CO2 prices. After closing the open-cast mining areas down, the company wants to build photovoltaic and wind power plants there which will be financed by a citizen energy concept in which citizens can participate privately or indirectly via energy companies. Local authorities and private companies can also get involved financially. Regional interested parties are given priority.

An agreement with RWE and state support for structural change are also needed to succeed, said Sönke Tangermann, member of the Greenpeace Energy Executive Board. The green power supplier has offered the RWE Group and other stakeholders from the municipal level to the federal government talks on the implementation of this plan. "What we are proposing is a huge opportunity for the Rheinisches Revier - and is taking us a big step forward in climate protection," said Tangermann. "Our concept is financially fair for all sides and designed in such a way that redundancies due to operational reasons can be avoided.

The implementation of this plan would - in comparison to RWE's planning - result in a total of 441 million tonnes less CO2 emissions, as calculated by the Forum Ökologisch-Soziale Marktwirtschaft (FÖS) on behalf of Greenpeace Energy. This would save social consequential costs due to climate damage in the amount of around 60 billion euros. By 2020, emissions will be reduced by around 13 million tonnes of CO2. By 2030, 338 million tonnes of CO2 will have been saved. "The Greenpeace Energy Plan thus pays directly into the 2020 and 2030 climate targets," says FÖS expert Florian Zerzawy.